escutcheon

From Anglo-Norman escuchon, Old French escusson (French écusson), ultimately from Latin scutum (“shield”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈskʌtʃən/
• Rhymes: -ʌtʃən

escutcheon (plural escutcheons)

1. (heraldry) An individual or corporate coat of arms.
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “1/5/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     And in the meanwhile, Society shivered a little feverishly, filled now with the scions of those who had come over with the Jewish and American Conquests. Escutcheons were becoming valueless, how sinister soever the blots and clots upon them.

2. (heraldry) A small shield used to charge a larger one.
3. (medicine) The pattern of distribution of hair upon the pubic mound.
4. A marking upon the back of a cow's udder and the space above it (the perineum), formed by the hair growing upward or outward instead of downward. It was once taken as an index of milking qualities.
   • 1867, Charles Louis Flint, Milch cows and dairy farming

     The milk-mirror, or escutcheon, is formed by the hair above the udder, extending upwards between the thighs, […]

5. (nautical) The part of a ship's stern where its name is displayed.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of R. H. Dana, Jr to this entry?)

6. A decorative and/or protective plate or bezel to fill the gap between a switch, pipe, valve, control knob, etc., and the surface from which it protrudes.
7. The insignia around a doorknob's exterior hardware or a door lock's cosmetic plate.
8. The depression behind the beak of certain bivalves; the ligamental area.

• blot on the escutcheon
• escutcheoned
• escutcheon pin